Night Owl Cards

I've got a bunch of cards to show off from a trade with Greg Z. of Plaschke Thy Sweater Is Argyle , but I have literally 18 minutes to write it. I really despise March. And if anyone mentions spring break, I'm going to write nothing but trade posts for the next week. The best card I got from Greg was the Lindsey Vonn mini card. I like to say I have a connection to Tiger Woods because as you know Woods and Vonn are currently cavorting. Vonn used to be married to a skier named Thomas Vonn (she was formerly known as Lindsey Kildow). Thomas Vonn went to a college that my newspaper covers, St. Lawrence University. I kind of knew him back then so there's my connection, as terribly tenuous as it is. As you can imagine, Greg has lots of Russell Martin cards just lying around. He's the only Dodger fan I know who is still collecting Russell Martin. Although, I suppose since I gratefully crossed these cards off my want list, I'm still collecting him, too. ...

As I mentioned in the last post, a blogger was trying to make me jealous while I was on vacation. This is a little bit like holding up a 100 dollar bill to LeBron James and saying, "lookie what I got!" He's going to laugh in your face. And then his bikinied groupies are going to laugh in your face. But I understand it was a timing issue. How was Greg Z. supposed to know I was happily sunning myself when he was baiting me? But I suppose I should return the favor, because that's what us guys do. So here are some Clayton Kershaw cards I obtained just before I went on vacation. Kershaw is the lone Dodger who will get playing time in the All-Star Game tomorrow (because Dodger fans aren't ballot-stuffing losers like fans of another team I know). He's my favorite current player, and he's also one of Greg Z.'s two favorite players. So, let's turn on the Jealous Meter and see how high we can get that baby to go. I obtained eight Kershaw card...

I received a couple of cards from a couple of Dodger fans recently that are really making me question the mental sharpness of our youth. Sure, these cards are from over 20 years ago, but are we really seeing more intelligent kids coming out of our classrooms today? (I have no facts to back up this sweeping implication). Look at this card. Someone is seriously deficient in the paper-cutting arts. This is some sort of National Highway Traffic Safety card. It's slightly smaller than your average card, and that's before someone took a screwdriver, or whatever inadequate tool  it was, to cut the card out. I'll give the youngster passing grades for the top edge and even the left edge (which looks suspiciously O-Pee-Chee-ish). But things went a little haywire on the right side and the bottom. It looks like he/she even bent the card in the cutting process. This card was sent to me by Spiegel . I hope he didn't pay anything for it. Here is a card sent to me by Greg ...

What percentage of collectors do you think are the multiple-case breakers? Ten percent? Five percent? One percent? I have no idea. But for the sake of this post, I'm going to say one percent. It has to be a small amount. Influential, no doubt, but definitely tiny. Maybe blogging has skewed my perception, but the vast majority of collectors I come across seem to fit into the same category that I do. We're just ambling through Target hoping to get lucky in the card aisle. We're hitting the card shop or going online, but with a close eye on the budget so we don't piss off a loved one. Every once in awhile, we'll buy a box of something, and more often than not feel guilty about it somewhere along the way. I can't even fathom busting multiple cases. I'm pretty sure that in my collecting lifetime I will never buy a case. If I ever do, there will have been some epic event that occurred before the case purchase. Like a lottery winning. Or a divorce. So I am...

Stephen Strasburg is facing the Dodgers tonight in his return to the majors. In any situation where the potential for my team to be embarrassed on a national level is high, I am always convinced of the worst. So, Strassy Baby almost certainly will throw a triple no-hitter against my team tonight. The game fits in perfectly with the general air of trepidation that goes with this time of the year. Today is when all the kiddies go back to school in these parts. As a former kiddie, I always hated this day. I don't enjoy it much more now because, for all of the people in my household, our schedule is connected directly to the school schedule. If school is in session, every one of us is much busier and around much more annoying people. If it's not in session, everything is serene. But today, the air is filled with apprehension and dread as we rehearse our comeback lines in front of the mirror. (We will all need them). And don't tell me to work on my attitude. You know what...

I have never been to a Sonic. Apparently there is a new one in the town where I grew up, but I'm in no rush to get there. For the longest time, I saw Sonic commercials on television and shrugged my shoulders. They could talk all they wanted about slurpies or shakes or whatever the hell they were selling -- why should I pay attention, it's not like I can go there -- it didn't mean a thing. But in a way, it was kind of cool. It gave me a glimpse into another world where people went to the drive-in and ordered food and drink like it was still the '50s. America was pretty awesome. Maybe not here where I lived, but out there , somewhere, where bright yellow Sonics churned out colorful, um, slushie things. That's what makes living in a large country all kinds of interesting. I may crab about wishing I lived in a one-time zone nation so every major sporting event wouldn't have to start at FREAKING 9 P.M., but the truth is it'd be pretty dull if I could drive...